SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Just two weeks after Penn State was rocked by a child sex-abuse scandal, ESPN reported Thursday that police were investigating an assistant basketball coach at Syracuse University on allegations of child molestation.

Shortly afterward, Syracuse placed longtime assistant coach Bernie Fine on administrative leave "in light of the new allegations and the Syracuse City Police investigation," the school said.

Connellan told the newspaper that police received information on the case Thursday but would not say who provided the information. The university said it had conducted its own investigation and couldn't find witnesses to corroborate the allegations.

Phone calls by The Associated Press to the police were not immediately returned.

ESPN reported that Fine is accused of molesting a former Syracuse ball boy, Bobby Davis, who is now 39. Davis told "Outside the Lines" that the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.

ESPN said it first investigated the accusations in 2003, but decided not to run the story because there was no independent evidence to corroborate the allegations. Recently, a second man contacted ESPN, alleging that Fine also molested him. That person said he decided to come forward after seeing the Penn State coverage.

The Post-Standard reported it also investigated the accuser's allegations in 2003, but decided against publishing the story because no one else came forward to confirm the accuser's account. Fine is in his 35th season as an assistant to coach Jim Boeheim.

In a statement by Kevin Quinn, the school's senior vice president for public affairs, Syracuse said it would cooperate with the police investigation.

He said the school was contacted in 2005 by "an adult male who told us that he had reported to the Syracuse City Police that he had been subjected to inappropriate contact by an associate men's basketball coach."

He said the alleged activity took place in the 1980s and 1990s.

"We were informed by the complainant that the Syracuse City Police had declined to pursue the matter because the statute of limitations had expired," Quinn said.

Quinn said the school conducted its own four-month investigation that included interviews with people the accuser said would support his allegations, but that all those people "denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct" and that the coach also denied the allegations.

Boeheim released a statement saying: "This matter was fully investigated by the university in 2005 and it was determined that the allegations were unfounded.

"I have known Bernie Fine for more than 40 years. I have never seen or witnessed anything to suggest that he would been involved in any of the activities alleged. Had I seen or suspected anything, I would have taken action. Bernie has my full support."

In a telephone interview afterward with the AP, Boeheim said: "This kid came forward and there was no one to corroborate his story. Not one. Not one. ... This just is not true."

The accusations arrived on the heels of the Penn State case in which longtime former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is accused of sexually abused eight boys over 15 years. The case cost Joe Paterno his job, and former school administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are charged with not properly alerting authorities to suspected abuse and perjury.

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AP Basketball Writer Jim O'Connell in New York contributed to this report.

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Key Players In Syracuse Scandal

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Fine joined Jim Boeheim's coaching staff at Syracuse in 1976 and established himself as one of the most respected assistant coaches at the collegiate level. The longtime lieutenant to Boeheim has recently been fired from his position and is facing allegations from three individuals that he sexually abused them as young boys.
Fine initially dismissed the allegations, stating that they were "patently false."
Syracuse placed Fine on administrative leave after ESPN reported on the police investigation. However, Fine was fired shortly after a third alleged third victim came forward and ESPN went public with tape-recorded conversations between one of the victims, Bobby Davis, and Fine's wife, in which she seems to indicate that she was aware of the molestation.

A former Syracuse ball boy for six years, Davis alleges that he was molested by Bernie Fine beginning in 1984 until he was around 27. According to Davis, he has repeatedly attempted to force an investigation into abuse, contacting Syracuse University, local police, ESPN and The Post-Standard. According to Davis, the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.
Now 39, Davis shared tape-recorded conversations between himself and Fine's wife with ESPN. In those conversations, Fine's wife, Laurie, indicates her knowledge of the alleged abuse. Davis also claims to have engaged in a sexual relationship with Laurie when he was in high school.

The second victim to come forward to corroborate Bobby Davis' claims, Mike Lang was also a Syracuse ball boy for several years. He spoke with ESPN's "Outside The Lines," but has remained far less visible than Davis. He claims we has molested by Fine starting when he was in the fifth or sixth grade.
Lang is the stepbrother of Davis.

The legendary head men's basketball coach at Syracuse University, Jim Boeheim is the fifth winningest coach in Division 1 history. After several years as an assistant under Roy Danforth, Boeheim was named head coach at Syracuse in 1976. He offered Fine a job on his coaching staff that year.
Shortly after ESPN's "Outside The Lines" reported that Fine was under investigation, Boeheim publicly supported his longtime colleague, even going as far as to call Bobby Davis, one of the two alleged victims who spoke with ESPN, "a liar."
Shortly after Fine was fired, Boeheim issued a second statement, expressing his agreement with the decision and regret over his previous statement.

The sports media monolith has been the driving force behind the scandal ever since an "Outside The Lines" report revealed that police were in the early stages of investigating two allegations of child abuse against the former Syracuse basketball assistant coach.
ESPN aired extensive interviews with the two alleged victims, Bobby Davis and Mike Lang. According to ESPN, "Outside The Lines" first investigated the allegations of molestation in 2003, but did not go public as there was no second account to corroborate Davis' story. Once Lang came forward, ESPN felt comfortable moving on the story.
The initial ESPN report led to Fine being placed on administrative leave. Fine dismissed the allegations as "patently false." Head basketball coach Jim Boeheim initially spoke out in support of Boeheim, claiming the allegations had been investigated -- and proven unfounded -- around the same time that ESPN first became aware of the story.
Shortly after ESPN's initial report, a third potential victim stepped forward. At this time, ESPN released a tape-recorded phone conversation between Davis and Fine's wife that seemed to indicate she was fully aware of the abuse.
After acknowledging that they had the tapes for years, ESPN came under fire for not sharing them with law enforcement or releasing them sooner, perhaps with the initial OTL report 11 days earlier. ESPN countered that they had not had the opportunity to have a voice expert match Laurie Fine's voice until just before they went public with the tapes.

Over the weekend following Thanksgiving, ESPN's 'Outside The Lines' aired an interview with alleged abuse victim Bobby Davis that included tape-recorded phone conversations from October of 2002 between him and Bernie Fine's wife, Laurie. In the conversation, she admitted her knowledge of the alleged abuse to Davis and claimed that her husband was in denial that he did anything wrong.
Davis revealed another shocking detail in an interview that aired along with recordings on ESPN, alleging that he also had a sexual relationship with Laurie. He explained that she initiated their physical relationship and the two engaged in sexual intercourse.

On November 27, 23-year-old Zach Tomaselli became the third person to accuse Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of child molestation. Tomaselli told police that Fine molested him in a Pittsburgh hotel in 2002 when he accompanied the basketball team on a road trip.
He is also facing sexual assault charges in Maine involving a 14-year-old boy and his father claims that his son is lying.

The administration at Syracuse University has made attempts to be transparent and communicative as the scandal has developed.
Shortly after ESPN initially reported on the allegations and the investigation, Kevin Quinn, Syracuse's senior vice president for public affairs issued a statement revealing that the school had conducted its own investigation into Fine in 2005 and would cooperate fully with police going forward.
Fine was quickly placed on administrative leave after the first ESPN report. Fine was then fired several days later after a third potential victim stepped forward. After Fine's dismissal, Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor sent an email to students and faculty addressing the situation.